Rosemary & onion minced meat

I have no idea where I got this idea from. I just thought “I want to introduce more herbs and spices into Allie’s diet.” then came “she needs more meat variety in her diet too.” and then just like that, I made this.

This has got to be one of the best things I’ve added into my little freezer stash, not only because it’s tasty, but also because it’s very versatile. Think bak chor (Chinese minced pork) but angmoh (Western) version. And if you don’t take pork, beef mince will do just fine. Stir some into porridge, pasta, mashed potatoes, and it does wonders to the flavour immediately. I. Am. A. Genius. 😂 (Please allow me to bask in my self-made glory for a moment. Lol.)

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Thank you very much. Now off to the important bit of this post- How to make this delish minced meat.

INGREDIENTS:

Minced meat (either pork of beef). I didn’t weigh mine, but it should be about 100g or less. Use whatever amount you have. It’s fine.

1/4-1/2 onion, finely diced

1/4tsp rosemary leaves (I used the dried ones I had in my pantry, but feel free to use fresh ones)

METHOD:

1. Sweat the onions with some oil on medium heat. Yes. Oil is fine even your baby really young. Breastmilk contains lots of fat yes? A small amount of good fat is good for babies too.

2. Add in the rosemary leaves. Fry until fragrant.

3. Add in the minced meat. Stir fry it until meat is thoroughly cooked through. Use the laddle/spatula to flatten and chop the meat up to help it cook evenly.

Just a word of caution. The meat may release juices as you fry. Keep frying until the juices evaporate off, and you get a rather dry mince, like this.4. Let the cooked minced meat cool for about 10min, then send everything into the blender if you’re cooking for a baby. (Skip this if your toddler can take some small chunks of mince.)

5. This bit is the magical bit: transfer all the mince into a ziplock bag. Yes, you heard me right. There’s no need to portion and freeze. Just bag everything in one single bag, and send it into the freezer.

Why? Won’t everything freeze into one huge chunk of mess? Nope, it won’t. Remember I told you earlier to cook off the excess meat juices? That’s the important step.

Now all you need to do is to head to the freezer (give it a couple of hours until the meat has froze), give the ziplock a few folds and snaps, and the loose chunk of mince will break into a crumble like this:

And because it’s so crumbly, it defrosts in seconds. Just sprinkle some on a warm bowl of plain porridge, stir some into a bowl of pasta. It works great for adults and babies’ food alike.